The unstoppable paparazzi juggernaut that is Kimye continues to hog entertainment headlines. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, 33, is to wed hip hop superstar Kanye West, 36, next Saturday. We round up the rumours and details about the showbiz couple.
1. This is the first marriage for West, but Kardashian's third walk down the aisle. She was married to music producer Damon Thomas from 2000 to 2003. She was also famously hitched to professional basketball player Kris Humphries in 2011 for just 72 days.
2. Kardashian's last wedding at a Montecito estate was a lavish affair which reportedly earned the reality TV star big bucks. The wedding was shot and broadcast as a four-hour special on E! entertainment channel, which also broadcasts Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The TV rights reportedly brought in US$15 million. Las Vegas nightclub Tao also paid the celebrity couple US$50,000 to hold their bachelor and bachelorette parties at the venue. The other endorsements and freebies the couple accepted included a big discount for Humphries on his US$2 million Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring for Kardashian, US$1 million from People magazine for the photo rights, and three free Vera Wang wedding dresses, worth US$20,000 each, for the bride to choose from.
3. The upcoming Kimye nuptials are rumoured to be worth even more. Besides more than US$15 million for the TV rights E! will have to cough up, the Daily Mail newspaper reports that Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, is trying to sell the wedding photo rights for another US$4 million. There are also other sponsors for food, goodie bags and wardrobe. The Daily Mail report estimates that Kardashian could earn more than US$21 million from this bash.
4. There has been much media speculation over the venue for the nuptials. Guests have been told to show up at the 57-acre Chateau Louis XIV, a faux historic pile built between 2008 and 2011, outside of Paris. This could be a fake location, also because media reports have said that the venue is built next to a sewage works which literally causes a stink. The latest media reports have pinpointed the Italian city of Florence as the venue, more specifically, the authentically historic 16th century Belvedere Fort as the location.
5. West proposed to Kardashian with a 15-carat diamond ring from Lorraine Schwartz. The ring is reportedly worth more than US$3 million and West was involved in the design process. The elaborate proposal took place at AT&T Park in San Francisco, complete with friends and family who, according to an E! Online report, "hid in the dugouts to keep the moment private and intimate". The proposal party, with a 50-piece orchestra, was broadcast in an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
